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...where Caden Payne was ice dancing.
The man couldn’t dance to save his life, and there he was, center ice, doing some sideways lawn mower move. With a chuckle, I slid to a stop in front of him.
“Hey, white boy. Leave the dancing for the girls. Or your fiancée.”
Caden recently proposed to a country music star—who, to be completely honest, couldn’t dance either, but the girl had pipes on her. That, and with legs for days, who the hell cared if she serenaded in the middle of the stage, just rocking back and forth?
“He’s terrible, right?” Nick Kolak said, as he slid to a stop right next to me, crossing his arms over his chest with a grin.
“I’m better than you two,” Caden cut in. “You and your sprinkler, Nick, need to go back to the sixties.”
“Those are not dance moves, men,” I said, shaking my head. I held my hands out in front of me and, after looking around and making sure there were no little eyes targeted on us, did a slow grind with the imaginary woman in front of me.
You would be correct in thinking that I had Ryleigh’s soft hips on the brain.
But I didn’t say it.
“How’s the blow-up doll enjoying these moves?” Caden grinned, his brows lifted high, to his buzzed blond head.
“Screw you,” I laughed, absolutely zero heat in the jest, as I dropped my hands to my sides.
“So, about that letter,” Nick said slowly, nudging me with his elbow three times.
Yeah.
I’d told them about it.
These two and Teague were not only my roommates, but three of my best friends. Teague and I went back to college, but Kolak, Paden, and I were all in Moline last season. When San Diego announced their farm team expansion to Beloit, and we all learned we would be playing together, it had been party central.
“What about it?” I stuffed my hands in my pockets, my right hand fidgeting with the marker there.
Nick looked back over my shoulder, nodding upward once. When he looked back toward our group, Caden took the opportunity to lean over, looking past my shoulder, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face at what he saw. And, even though I had it on good authority it was Ryleigh they were going on about, I looked over my shoulder too.
There she was, still hand-in-hand with the little girl, as they talked to Teague, her side toward us.
Lucky bastard.
Now that she was hardly twenty feet away, I took in what I had earlier thought was ‘just’ a long-sleeved shirt.
It was a bit more than that.
It was deep maroon in color, falling loosely just below her hips, but hugged her chest far better. Ryleigh Scott was probably average high and build by today’s standards. She had a sweet hour-glass figure that wasn’t usually evident in the baggy sweatshirts she seemed to prefer, but was absolutely put on display today.
Before I could sport wood, I turned back toward my boys, but not quite fast enough to miss her quick glance over her shoulder, her blue eyes locking with mine for a fraction of a second.
I cleared my throat. “What of it?”
Nick barked a quick laugh. “Why don’t you just talk to her? You two make eyes at each other all the damn time.”
Caden nodded, grinning from ear to ear. “My favorite is during warm ups. Dude, you used to stretch on that side of the ice,” he said, pointing toward our bench, “but now, you stretch over there so you can watch her while you’re down in a butterfly stretch. It’s sad, man.”
Butterfly stretches were great for the groin, but they also could make a horny man think of other things to be doing in that position...and now that Caden put the thought in my head, I couldn’t stop it from fully forming.
“Hey now,” I said, trying hard to reroute the direction of my thoughts. I put my hands up and, really needing to divert from the conversation, started to slowly skate backward. “I’m figuring out the best move.”
Which was a partial truth. I really wasn’t sure if I should even make a move. I kept trying to tell myself I didn’t have time, but damn, I was intrigued by the girl.
“Sure, man. Sure,” Caden said, a cocky grin on his face.
With a sly middle finger salute in front of me, I turned to skate away, and while Ryleigh never turned, the little girl who was with her, did. When she waved, I waved right back.
Cute kid.
One more lap around the ice, and I headed toward the lockers.
Thinking back to the earlier thought of whether a move on Ryleigh was worth it…
When a woman caught your attention as much as Ryleigh Scott did? She was probably worth it.
